Private Project

Living Gauguin

Diego is an artist -- and that’s all he feels he has in this life. He hates his job and people seem to treat him badly. Desperate and dejected -- Diego feels he isn’t “Truly living” and must somehow make a move to regain meaning to his life. Reading about the great painter Paul Gauguin, Diego emulates the artist and leaves the comfort of his world for a place he can live cheaply and paint full time. His destination -- Juarez Mexico. But dreams can come at a price and Diego is forced to come to terms with what “truly living” means when one has to survive and escape with one’s own life.

  • Juan Galceran
    Director
  • Juan Galceran
    Writer
    Artist/Designer – Animation: Ghostbusters, Mario Brothers, Captain Planet, Family Dog ( A Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Warner Brothers Production). Artist/Designer – Midway Video Game Entertainment: Mortal Combat, Off Road Challenge.
  • Juan Galceran
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Experimental, Feature
  • Runtime:
    2 hours 10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    July 15, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    15,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    Mexico, United States
  • Language:
    English, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    S16 Film
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • *Semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Screenplay Competition: a competition sponsored by Paramount Pictures, Steven Spielberg, and Amblin Entertainment. *Top ten percent at the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition. *Panavision Filmmakers Grant.
Director Biography - Juan Galceran

Juan Galceran designed and made art for some very demanding and creative people, producers and companies. These include work on productions for Steven Spielberg, Tim Burton, Warner Brothers Studios, and Midway Video Games. His concepts and ideas were part of some highly successful productions, but he felt a calling to do his own creative work. Taking a sabbatical to paint and write -- he moved from Southern California back to his hometown on the furthest point of West Texas and the Mexican border: El Paso (meaning "the passage" -- gateway to the new).

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Director Statement

Most artists only do painting, or video art, or art assemblages, or cinematic film-making, etc., etc. Painting and drawing has always been the genesis of most visual creativity -- film and video are the artistic medium of this generation. I am combining some or all mediums by personally creating all aspects intertwined. Film with art -- art with film. It’s an investigation on space and time and I believe a new form of art. Like the artist Roy Lichtenstein said: “Invent your own game and be the star of it because no one else knows how to play.”

The genesis of 'Living Gauguin' began while painting a contemporary art series called “La Vida.” I had the idea to project a movie of my own creation onto one of the paintings as a whole unit of art and to use my art as part of the film -- all immersed with each other. From that inception I wrote, produced and directed this no-budget, feature length, S16mm independent film -- which was a semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Screenplay Competition: a competition sponsored by Paramount Pictures, Steven Spielberg, and Amblin Entertainment. The movie was also in the top ten percent at the Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition and was a recipient of the Panavision Filmmakers Grant.